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SPEAKER COLFAX, 



AND 



Cj}£ Mmm Seagtie (!l0mmittte 



WITH THE 



LETTER OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN, 



TO 



A. G. HODGES, OF KENTUCKY. 



WASHINGTON: 

PRINTED AT THE OFFICE OF THE DAILY CHRONICLE, 4.56 NINTH STREET. 

1864. 



SPEAKER COI.FAX, 



AND 



Cljc million Inigiie (Lr-oininittte 



WITH THE 



LETTER OF PRE8I DENl^ LINCOLN, 



TO 



A. G. HODGES, OF KENTUCKY 



WASHINGTON: 

PPJXTED AT THE OFFICE OF THE DAILY CHRONICLE, 4.JG NINTH STKEET 
1864. 



SPEAKEK C'OEEAX AND THE UNION LEAGUE 
('(BEMTTTEE. 



A Committee of tlie I'nion League. Potomac Council — llou. I>. 1*. 
Holloway, President — consisting of Messrs. Lewis, Cook, Poster, Wood 
and Etter, waited on Speaker Colfax, witli resolutions unanimousl}- 
adopted by tlie Council, aj^proving tlie course taken by liini in reference 
to the treasonable utterances of Alexander Long, M. C, of Oliio. 

Mr, Le\\ds, Chairman of the Committee, tendered the ivsolutions with 
remarks well suited to the occasion. He said: 

Mr. Speaker :— We come to convey to you resolutions approving of 
your course in moving to expel from the House of Kepresentatives Mr. 
Long, of Ohio, for his treasonable language and conduct; and to say to 
you, our approval was unanimous, and even more; ardent than is ex- 
l)ressed ir. the resolutions. We oid}' regret that there were not a con- 
stitutional number like-minded to have fully accomplished the work.. 
We have to complain not only of the treason of these sympathizers 
with rebellion, but that the}- are continually raising false issues to 
deceive, and thus try to regain the power and influence they have lost. 
Hence, they clamor for ''free speech,*' and pretend to be advocates for 
••constitutional liberty," keeping out of sight the fact that free speech 
ends where Avrong speech begins. Words are the best index of the 
heart. If there were iio treason Avithin, there would be none on the 
tongue. 

••Out of the alnindancc ot the ht^ari the mouth speaketh.'' Eternal 
truth has decided the cjnestion. Wrong speech can no more be tolera- 
ted than wrong action. "By thy word thou shalt be condemned," and 
'•b}' thy words thou shalt be justified." ''Out of thine own mouth will 
I judge thee." We have had enough of such free speech, and it must 
be sto])ped. Davis, Toombs & Co. Avcre also great advocates of free 
speech, and it soon cnlminated in free stealing, free robbing, freebooting, 
and free murder; and such will always be the result if wrong speech or 
action be permitted; it will soon overcome all right speech and right 
action, and then, of course, there is an end to all true libertv. 



It lias \ou'^ Ixrn our boast — ami justly — that ours ^vas a I'reccouutrv: 
but it is a country in •wliieh j^orsons are free to do ri,2ht and not to do 
wrong cither in word or deed. 

The proposition of the uvntlenian — oi' se])aration — caun«jt l)e eiilcr 
tained. None but base and wicked men could ])roposc it, because we 
are lorever bound to yuu raider to every State a republican government; 
and tlierefore can never sanction such a despotism as the rebels seek to 
perjietuate; but if a majority could be base enough to consent, it would 
oidy prove their ruin, as "there would be war all the days of Jeroboam,"" 
and lorever after. 

If we do not subdue the rebellion, it will subdue us. If with all the 
rivers in rebeldom sealed ; and the whole coast girded as with fii-e, Ave 
find the t^isk no easy one, what coidd we do if wc were to allow them 
to nil their rivcr.s and surrcjund the coast with Merrimacs, Floridas, 
rams, and tor])edos ; there can be l)ut one result, and the sooner this is 
under.-Jtood and acted upon, the better. 

No treaties can ever be made with them. Heaven never sanctioncil, 
n(»r did man ever devise a more sacred and just compact than that made 
by our lathers: which they — without cause — have broken in every 
particular, and proved by their atrocities, that they are worse than 
savages. 

Every inean.s, to the last man and the last dollar, if need, must be 
used to restore the triumph of law and true liberty, with God, justice, 
and multitudes of true men on our side, we must succeed, and in this 
good work we wish you and your compatriots God speed, and a full 
share in our final, and we trust, glorious triumph. 

Mr. Colfax rc}»lied, in substance as follows: 

Gentlemkx: — Sincerely as I value the approval of my fellow- 
citizens generally, I value in the highest degree the testimonial you 
present to-night,' in the rcsoluticms adopted by the Union League of 
this city, of which you are a committee. Gratifying as they are as an 
indication and endorsement of my recent course, by those who have 
been witnes.ses of the act itself, they have a double value, when I con- 
sider the unconditional devotion to our country's cause, of tho.se 
enrolled in your organization. And to this is added the speech of your 
chairman, whose patriotism, theology, and logic, are so harmoniously 
blended. 

The .speech which elicited the resolution you endorse, seemed to mc 
an ex])eriment, to ascertain what loyal jieople would bear in that direc- 
tion ; to l^e Ibllowed u]\ if unrebuked, by public meetings all over the 
country, echoing what had thus been declared as to the death and 
dcstructi<tn of our Kejiublie, and the recognition of the Traitor Con- 



rederac}^ under the very rool" of the Cupitol. And thou;c^h the step I 
took might have been regarded as one of grave ]-esponsibih'ty, us it, 
was; yet as it seemed to be demanded by duty to the country, ii'ud the 
country's defenders in the lield, it Avas taken unhesitatingly ;'and your 
hearty apimjval, as well as my own consricncc. assures me tljat it was 
right: 

What would follow the aband()muent of tliis struggle for the i)reser- 
vation of the Union, and our consent that upon the ruins of the 
destroyed republic, another government might be planted, and admittcnl 
with our consent into the Family of Nations, I need scarcely recapitu- 
late. Bnt most painful to the patriot's heart would be the reflection, 
that the martyrs for the Union, who liad died on so many battle-fields, 
had died in vain ; and that their survivors Avould return, not to be 
■welcomed with enthusiastic acclaim, as the saviours of the Union, but 
trailing behind them their dishonored flag, abandoning forever to trai- 
tors the large scope of the Confederacy won back to the Union by their 
valor. They Avould go downcast and humiliated to their homes, not to 
rejoice there over their campaigns, but to lament for the rest of their 
lives, that they ever went forth to the dangers of war at the call of a 
country which had so basely abandoned its own sacred cause. Our 
Revolutionary patriots, who dared all the perils of that era, to win for 
us the nationality that our heroes seek now to }>reserve, could speak 
with exultation and pride to child and grandchild, and friend, of their 
sacrifices and privations so willingly suffered for the Union, and each 
succeeding generation have added more and inore glory to their 
immortal fame. But with our soldiers called back by a disgraceful 
abandonment of our cause and country, no future honor would recom- 
pense them for their sufferings. We cannot disgrace them. If we do, 
posterity will curse us as unworthy of the Republic we thus ignomini- 
ously surrendered. 

We are told, it is true, ol the great cost of this war and our enemies 
seek to appal us by frightful figures of the magnitude of our National 
Debt. I know it will cost heavily to save the country ; but it will cost 
less to save it than to lose it. With its destruction comes endless 
anarchy, and endless war ; a long border line, thousands of miles in 
extent, and thousands of strifes on either side; a cordon of custom- 
houses on the border; a standing army to guard the frontier we 
concede ; still further division of the ruins of our country ; the right 
to appeal from the ballot-box to the bullet, transplanted from Mexican 
soil to ours, by our own consent ; until at last, after a generation of 
anarchy and revolution, we fall under the yoke of some foreign despot, 
who, either aided by our " estranged brethren," or not, tramples under 
foot what little semblance of liberty may be left. Xo, gentlemen, our 



H 

.•.Hint IV must be saved, at wbatevor cost. \t it takes everv dollar <»l 
till- natitjn'.s wealtli. Ave .shall, it" suoecsstul.be no iK)orer than our fall levs 
at the end of the revolutiunarv war. Indeed, throngh.tnt ihat struggle. 
they were bankrupt in all but liojte and coura^ic, thitli in the rioht and 
devotion to libeHy. And. for luyself. J would not hesitate, if our 
country can certainly V)e .saved, to .saeriiiec every dollar I ])ossess. 
Without it. but with a jireserved eouutr\', J .should be i-icli indeed. 
With the country destroyed, and the reign of revolution followdDg, let 
Mexico au.swer a.s to whether pr.>]>erty is not a.s woitliless as the Gov- 
ernment that wa.s powerless to j)rofcct its own exi.stencc. 

Nor rdv \\c surrender, except at the volnntary sacriiice ui' all tliat 
i.s honorable in nations and in men. If we allow the sword of treason 
to sever the Kepublie. every friend ol' liberty in the world will turn 
their backs on us with scorn and contempt. If we abandon the graves 
ot* the loved and tlie lost, all over the suimy south, from Manassas and 
Uiehmond. across by Chicamauga and Vieksburg to Sabine Pass and 
(Jalvcston. .>^o that in all future time, you shall not'droj) a tear of alfec- 
tion on their hallowed resting-])laec. except by permits begged from 
that incarnate traitor. JelVerson Uavi.s. we arc not worthy of'the brave 
inen who sleep there in their bloody shrouds. If we allow the flag oi' 
disunion to float over the grave of the Father of his Country, on your 
<^w-n Potomac, the slow, unmoving finger of scorn, should be pointc.] ;it 
all of us while we live iu the country \ve have thus disgraced. 

r>nl it will not be. Wr. will keep faith with the dead of the Kcv.'lu- 
tion. W'c will follow the flag of onr lathers as the tribes of old did the 
liery pillar. We Avill not yield the contest till every Malakoff of trea.son 
is reduced, and every suiiering JAicknow of the South shall hear tlu^ 
slogan of deliverance. And trusting in that Providence who Avas the 
Go<l of our fathens, Ave Avill look forAA'ard hopeiitlly to His ansAverto the 
j.rayers that ascend ni.jrniug and evening, from a rjiillion hearthstones. 
and Avhieh Ave can all join in to-night. 

••<:•'" ^^Vf TIIH A.MKIUCAN KKITBLIC." 



my of llifsitifiit it'iiiroln 10 -^. ti\ *)ob,,f,. a-sq. 

ir H , ^.'^-^^f""-*^ M.vx.l.,.x. \V..,„N,n„x, A|,nl 4. ,,s,;, 
.4. 6. i/»,A/e,v, A.sy., Fmniror/. Ky.: 

protect, anddefe„nt: tslitudo ', of , r-! f."'-'' "'''"'>• l'''''^'^"-^'- 
t.ke the office withom takt tie o,t \^f ^* '^'"^" ^ ^^ "»' 
.niglat take m, oath to eet pZ°er 4dl c-,l-^l T ■* '"? """'■ "''" ^• 
1 tmderstood. ton that h, Sm^ r', f i ■" °"''''■''"•'''"S'''''P°^™l•■ 
forl,ade me to praotSh indVe^m administration, this o.U even 
moral question'^o? s We V I h.'i inrr",' ''Y'T ■r"'S">«'t on tlie 

;::;\=^,Sce£^i5f?-"?"™= 
■o .^ tt oMSS3f ^5rf ;f ^iii^^^^ 

i-c-3zf^anSSS^^Ir^^^^ 

^at.on,andvetpre..e.TetlleConstitmio„•' •■ " '"'■"''''* "' '°^« "^ 

iililiiiiBii 

lisipIiiSSS 



llumc-r attcinptoa miliian enmiu-ipation. 1 a^aiu lorhado it. I>eeausc. I 
u ' • •^^"."r^' ^^1'' i»^l''^I'^'"--=^»'l«^ uooessity had come. 

K i .vcH: ? l^'^'-;';*'- 'States to favor componsatcd en.ancipatioi,. 

UN 1 ndispcnsablc ne<..ss.tv lor niililary enianeipation. ai.d 

.1^ the l.laeks ^yould r.uK, unless averted In' tluit measure. Tliey 

^^^'"TV''''''' ^'T^ J ^^■"^- ''^ '">' l>^^^t judgmeut, driven to thi 
. na neof either surrendenuM the Tnion. an.l Avith it the Constitu- 
•o ., of hjyin^;stron^n.and upon the ..ol.nvd elen.ent. I chose the 
ate luehocsmc.,! J l,..,...,! |br ,reaj..r .ain than h.sS; l.„t onhis 
\\a> nut entirely conli.lent. 

"More than'a year of trial nou sl.ous n.. loss hv a, in our llm-iun 

I'll t^.iy lHr..e:_no lo...s by ,t. anvhou-. or any Avhere On the cont -.r • 

:md iX;er"Ti''"'' -^' 'Tt'r' '^^^ thousand .oiil::;:^^; 

■ >tau.,l, It ,, ,„,lv because. 1,. .auiu.t ll.cc 11,,. „„i|, " ' "'" , 

u..'S,'iXL;:^';;^' -;;;;:.;;; ;!;^„;t;; :::™[r"r , '" '^'"-^ ■ 

«1. V,T,lcr,n.v,U,vT,,rr .•■'"'l-esl'' ""• ^i''"'.'' >o"Jition is not If 

V.Mirs. liHlly, 

A. LINCOLN. 



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